Fender for vehicles.



O. H. FRANK.

FENDER FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26, 1910.

1,058,359. Pat nted Apr. 8, 1913.

' 2 SHBETSSHEET 1.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0,.WAsI-IINGTDN, D. C.

0. H. FRANK. FENDER FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26, 1910. 1 058 359, Patented Apr. 8, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' oTTo I-I. FRANK, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

FENDER FOR VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8, 1913.

Appl'icat-ion filed September 26, 1910. Serial No. 583,888.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OTTo H. FRANK, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of New York, borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fendersfor Vehicles, of whichthe following is a full, clear, and exactspecification.

This invent-ion relates to a class of fenders adapted to be applied moreparticularly to power driven vehicles and especially automobiles and thelike.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a fender adapted to beoperated by the steering gear which guides the front wheels of a vehicleso that the efficiency of the fender will be maintained at all positions of said wheels.

Another object of the invention is to pro- "vide efiicient means forpreventing objects or persons struck by the fender from belng run overby the wheels of the vehlcle and which will serve to safely pick suchobjects 01 persons up and carry them along until the vehicle is stopped,thus avoiding 1njuriss or damage to life and property.

lother object of the invention is to prol l l l 1 Yi t fender which isso constructed that It can easily and quickly be attached to or r m Velfrom any power driven vehicle.

n er object of the invention is to pro-J vi m ahs for securing thefender to the forward springs of a vehicle, instead of to the front axisin order to apply the fender to various fonns of automobiles, or powerdriven vehicles.

With these various objects in view, my invention consists. in the novelfeatures of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, asrepresented in the accompanying drawing forming a part of thisspecification and hereinafter described and pointed out in the appendedclaims.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a front view of my improved fender. Fig. 2is a top plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a side View showing the steeringrod in dotted lines. Fig. 4 illustrates a modified form of connection ofmy improved fender to the spring of a vehicle. Fig. 5 shows a bufferused in connection with this modification. Fig. 6 is a buffer-plate usedin connection with the bulfer shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a sectionalview of a bracket held to the axle for connecting the fender to theaxles of a vehicle, and Fig. 8 is a similar sectional view of anotherform of means of connecting the fender to an axle.

The outer ends of the forward axle 10 of a power driven vehicle areforked, as shown at 11, Fig. 1, and the prongs 12, 12 of said forks areprovided with oppositely arranged.

openings for the passage of screw-bolts 13 having heads 14 resting withtheir underside upon the, upper outer face of said prongs, while thescrew threaded free ends of said bolts pass through the openings in theprongs and are secured in position by nected one end of rods 22 adaptedto receive between the forked opposite ends 23, 23 the pin 24 of thesteering rod 25 connected in the customary manner to the steering gear'of a vehicle,'not shown.

Through the axle 10 in proximity to the forked'ends 11 is formed avertical opening 26 for passage therethrough of bolts 26*, and the upperand lower peripheral edges of said openings are concaved so as to formbearings 27 for balls 28, said bearings being closed by caps 29 in whichannular grooves 29 are. provided so as to form a raceway for said ballsaround the screw threaded shaft 30 of the caps 29, for the purpose ofguiding said caps with the least possible friction uponthe axle so thatthe fender, as will hereinafter be more fully described, may readilyfollow the precise uidin movement of the front wheels when tdie ve icleis steered. To the threaded shafts 30 are held two brackets or frames 31and 31 each consisting of three bars, as 32, 32 and 32 and the outerends of the bars 32 and 32 have threaded openings for the passage of thethreaded shafts 30 whereby the frames 31 and 31 may be held in anadjusted position upon said threaded shafts by nuts, as 33 and 33 Thebolts 26 may be dispensed with and instead thereof the axle 10 may be,provided with suitable caps, as 34 and 34*, Fig. 7, upon the uppersurface of which are formed grooves providing bearings for balls 28movable in the like annular grooves of the cap 29 formed upon thethreaded shaft 30.

In front of the axle 10,. the bars 32 and 32 of the brackets or frame 31are connected by vertical bars 38- and the outer ends of said bars 32and 32 are connected by bars 39 which may be slightly concave, as shownin Figs. 3 and 8. The centrally arranged bars 32 between the bars 32 and32 connect the middle of the concave bars 39 with the middle of thevertical bars 38 in front of the axle, and serve to greatly in creasethe strength and stability of the frame 31, and screw-bolts 4O firmlyconnect the middle bars 32* of the frame with the guiding rod 20, thusinsuring the positive movement of? the frame in unison with said guidingrod and also with the 'movements of the steering rod connected to saidrod 20 as above described. Vertical spring plates or bars 39 areconveniently fastened by any well known means to the concave bars 39,said plates or bars 39 protruding for a distance above and below theends of said bars 39. To the upper ends of said plates or bars 39 arehinged as shown at 41 the upper ends of spring or carrier bars 42, thelower ends of which are perforated so as to allow passage of thescrew-threaded ends of bolts 43 which extend from the rear through thebars 39 and the perforations of the bars 42. Thumb screws 44 upon theouter projecting ends of said bolts 43, allow an adjustment of the lowerends of the bars 42 with relation tobars 39*, the resiliency of suchconnection being furthermore greatly augmented by the introduction ofspiral springs 45 encircling the bolts 43 between the inner faces of thebars 39 and 42, and tending to press both apart.

It is clear that by loosening the thumb screw 44 the bars 42 and thefender proper attached thereto as will hereinafter be more fullydescribed, may be swung upwardly so as to give easy and convenientaccess to the front of the vehicle if necessity arises.

The fender proper 46, consists of any convenient number ofcross-connected bars 47 and 48 so as to form a lattice work asillustrated. Upon the rear surface of the outer vertical end bars 47 arearranged hinges 49 by means of which the fender may be removablyfastened to the pins 49 arranged in corresponding numbers upon the outerfaces of the bars 42. The lower portions of the vertical bars 47 of saidfender frame are iu-shaped, and arranged so as to extend under the frontof the body of a vehicle. The free lower ends of the vertical bars 47are connected by horizontal cross-bars 50 and 50 and bars 51 connect theEli-shaped portions of the vertical bars :47 with the horizontal bar 50.The outer free ends of said bars 51 are bent outwardly and have theouter ends thereof connected by vertical links 52 wh1ch are alsoconnected 4 to the outer ends of the horizontal bar 50, 5 thus forming aconve-nlent and effective catchmg device for picking up a person orobstacle in the path of the vehicle and preventing contact with thewheels of said vehicle.

I11 the central part the lattice work forming the body of the fender isprovided an opening 52 and to one of the horizontal bars 48 of thefender is hinged, as at 53, an outwardly swinging gate 54 to allowconvenient access to the crank of the vehicle.

To one end of the rod 26 may be secured a bracket 55, as shown in Fig.8. One end of the bracket 55 is connected to the bar 32 of the bracket31, and its other end may be fastened to one of the rods 22 so that theparts will be strengthened thereby for the steering rod of the vehicleto operate the 9! fender, though it will be understood that the bracket55 may be dispensed with if desired.

In Fig. 4 a modified form of connection is. shown for fastening myimproved fender to l the front springs 56 of an automobile 0]? vehiclehaving springs projecting for a dis- V tance in front of the forwardaxle thereof. In this form, the fender is secured upon the" upper andlower part of the spring 56 of j vehicle by means of brackets 57 havingclamps 58 which are adapted to be heldi y bolts or otherwise to thespring 56. Up n the opposite end of said brackets 57 areprovided studs59 upon each of which is r' ally held links 60 to which is connect thelugs, as at 61, of a buffer-plate 62, earh ing a slot at each end, as 63and 64, through which are passed bolts 65 and 96 which engage the endvertical barsfi of the fender. There are two of the/ ufier-plates 62,and by this arrangement, it is evident that the fender will beyieldingly held to the brackets 57. In an opening in the lower link 60is pivotally held the pin 67 provided upon an arm 70 upon the oppositeend of which is arranged a suitable clamp 71 for holding said arm to thespring 56, and centrally of the arm 70 is held the rod 20 by which thefender is uided synchronically with the steering of the wheels of thevehicles.

It is understood that changes may be made in the form or in theproportions of the parts forming my improved fender, or that thearrangement of the parts may be changed when occasion requires, withoutdeparting from the scope and purpose of my invention; therefore I do notwish to be limited to the particular form herein described and shown.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Patent:

1. A fender for power driven vehicles, comprising a resilient fenderproper composed of cross-wise arranged bars, having a U-shaped lower endopening toward the front of the fender, spring bars having front hooksadapted to removably engage hinges provided upon the rear of the fenderproper, and a frame to the front of which the back part of said springbars are connected, means to pivotally connect said frame to the frontaxle of a vehicle, and means to swing said frame and fender in unisonwith the front wheels, said latter means being actuated by the steeringrod of the vehicle.

2. A fender for power driven vehicles, comprising a resilient fenderproper, vertically disposed springs, each composed of a front bar and arear bar having their upper ends pivotally connected, the front barsbeing adapted to removably carry the fender proper, brackets consistingof each three horizontal parallel bars to which the rear bars of thesprings are attached, vertical bolts pivota-lly and anti-frictionallysecured in vertical passages of the axle adapted to carry the outer endsof the uppermost and lowermost bracket bars and means to Letters I swinsaid brackets in unison with the front whee s, said latter means beingactuated by the steering rod of the vehicle.

3. A fender for power driven vehicles, comprising a resilient fenderproper, two vertically disposed springs, each composed of a front barand a rear bar having upper ends pivotally and lower ends separatelyconnected, the front bars of the springs carrying the fender proper,brackets consistin each of three horizontal parallel bars an twovertical bars, one of the corresponding vertical bars of each bracketbeing concave, the rear bars of the vertical springs being attached tosaid concave bar, bolts pivotally secured in vertical passages of theaxle, ballbearings for guiding said bolts without friction in saidpassages, and a rod pivotally connected to the ends of said axle andfirmly connected to the central horizontal bars of said brackets for thepurpose of swinging said brackets and the fender attached thereto inunison with the guiding of the front wheels by the steering rod of thevehicle.

This specification signed and witnessed this 29th day of June A. D.1910.

OTTO H. FRANK. Witnesses:

Row. B. ABBOTT,

S. SAHNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C.

